Game Night
by howtotrainyourwally
Summary: AU. Game night with that barista Wally likes. Rolling College AU and Coffee Shop AU into one. Fluffy.


Wally's shoelace got caught on one of the splinters on the old staircase, causing him to almost fall the rest of the way down that stairs. Luckily he didn't have his backpack full of books so he was able to catch himself with minimal effort. Unfortunately there was no one around to witness his amazing save, as per usual. When there was people around he would trip over his own two feet, but when there is no one around he can usually save himself from whatever life throws at him. He retied his shoe before he made his way down the rest of the stairs.

The college junior lived in an old apartment buildings, one of those buildings you would see on Main Street in every town with a store or restaurant on the ground floor and small dingy apartments making up the rest. The apartments were cheap and easy for him to afford living in one with the money he got for tutoring chemistry and physics and working at the _Bibbo's Diner_ down the street.

Living so close to school and work meant he didn't need to spend money on gas all the time because he could just walk (unless he was running late, which happened more frequently than not sometimes).

Another advantage of his apartment location was _The Cave_.

_The Cave_ was the business that inhabited the ground floor of Wally's building. It was a cozy little coffee shop that, in Wally's opinion, makes the best coffee in town (don't tell his boss he said that). The place became a frequent spot where a couple of friends and him hung out when Wally and Connor weren't working.

Wally walked outside into the cool evening air. He took in a deep breath, noting the familiar faint smell of rich coffee. The smell intensified as he walked around the short brick wall that stood between the door the led up to the apartments and the door that led into the coffee shop. He was greeted with the strong smell of coffee and freshly made cookies and he could hear Taylor Swift playing softly over the speakers.

"Wally, please tell me you're not changing up your order today," a black haired barista called from behind the counter. Wally made his way over has she handed a customer a small paper bag and a cup holder with all the spots filled. He quickly moved out of the way as the customer hurried out, narrowly not running into the Vietnamese blonde barista that was bussing tables with a grey plastic tub tucked under her arm full of dirty dishes.

"Bad day?" he asked as he finally got to the counter.

"There is something about today that has made everyone decided to try something new," the barista explained as she moved about to make his usual. "It's been driving me nuts. Even Dick changed his order!" She gestured accusingly to the raven haired boy sitting in a booth close by with a laptop. He looked up, innocently taking a sip from his coffee mug.

"How could you do that to her?" Wally said, playing along. "Zatanna has been nothing but nice to you."

"She wasn't complaining when I came in," he said defensively. Suddenly there was a crash behind Wally and he could hear cups and plates breaking. He turned to see the blonde barista on the floor with coffee down the front of her white shirt and surrounded by broken dishes. Standing in front of her was a tall man with pale skin and even paler hair.

"Cameron," she roared. Wally flinched at the cold look on his face as she glared up at him.

"Sorry, Artemis," he said with a shrug, obviously not sorry at all.

"Get out," she shouted at him, pointing to the door. The guy put his hands up in mock surrender as he turned and walked out of the shop.

Wally was the first one to make a move. He went over and offered a hand to Artemis, doing his best not to focus on how her shirt was now clinging to her skin. It took her a moment to notice him, grumbling to herself about 'horrible exs' and 'docked pay'. Once she did notice his hand it took her even longer to take it, her stormy grey eyes (stormier than usual) looking up at him. He offered her a small smile and her grimace wavered for a moment before she took his hand and looked away from him. He pulled her up as Zatanna joined them with a mop, broom, and dustpan.

"I have an extra white shirt in my bag you can change into, Artemis," she told her coworker as she handed her the towel that was hanging on her shoulder. "I'll clean this up and finish bussing, you can take the counter."

"Zee, it's fine, I can-" the blonde started before Zatanna snap her fingers, effectively cutting her off.

"Go change and take the counter," she ordered her. "You'll have to finish making Wally's coffee too." Artemis kept her mouth shut and nodded before excusing herself to the back room.

A normal person definitely would have watched her walk all the way across the shop. A normal person would probably have also noticed her hips lacking their normal swaying motion and that her footsteps were heavier than normal. At least that's what Wally told himself.

"Do you want us to help you with that, Zatanna?" Wally jumped slightly, turning to glare at his best friend who was now standing behind him.

"It's my job, Dick," Zatanna pointed out. "I'm fine." Then she looked at Wally, her blue eyes shining like she just came up with something that will probably be his downfall. "Hey, is it okay if I invite Artemis to game night?" she asked in a sweet voice, a voice that meant that if he didn't agree he might just find himself getting horrible tasting coffee for weeks (he found that out the hard way).

"Uhhh, I guess," Wally answered in a shaky voice. That answer was obviously good enough for her because she grinned and went to work on cleaning up the broken dishes and spilt coffee on the floor.

The redhead gave his best friend a scared look. The boy just shrugged in response and led the way to his booth.

Game night was Wally's favorite night. Megan always brought homemade cookies and candy when she comes and Zatanna brings beer (no one asks how or where she gets it). He has been throwing game night on the last Friday of every month ever since he got his apartment. Everyone was invited but rarely did everyone show up at on the same night. They usually play board games or card games (the only thing that was worse than playing poker with Dick was Monopoly) though if it's only Wally, Dick, Zatanna and one other person they play Mario Kart or a different video game.

This was Artemis first game night and, though he would never admit it out loud, he wanted her to have a good time.

By the time Dick showed up at his usual early time Wally already had safety blankets thrown over all the chairs and couch to protect them from possible beer spills, and all the games stacked up on the table along with a bowl of potato chips.

He grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth as he dropped into one of his chairs and listened to Dick let himself in. His friend stepped into the apartment, smelling the air as he slowly closed the door.

"Did a bleach bottle explode in here?" he asked with a wrinkled nose as he walked in. That's when Dick noticed the state of the apartment. "Dude, are you okay?" Wally answered with a confused look, swallowing his chips. "The apartment looks better than when you got it," the boy explained. Then it seemed to dawn on him. "Is this because Artemis is coming tonight?"

"No," Wally lied through another mouthful of chips. He paused to swallow before continuing. "I had the day off of work so after class I spent my time cleaning." He shrugged like it was nothing, hoping for the subject to drop.

"Okay," Dick said, flopping down on the couch. "So what game are we playing?" Wally let out a soft sigh.

"I don't know. Megan said that she and Conner are going out tonight, Kaldur has a paper due on Monday that he wants to spend the whole weekend on, and Raquel said she wasn't coming because of family reasons," he replied with another sigh.

All that meant was that his evening was most likely to be full of Zatanna and Dick embarrassing him in front of Artemis, like he need any help with that. He just hopes that Zatanna brings an extra pack of beer, she usually does when it was so few of them.

"I vote Halo or Mario Kart," Dick offered.

"We should let Artemis decide, it being her first time and all," Wally suggested, trying to make sound as casual as possible. Dick raised an eyebrow and gave him a knowing look, but didn't say anything.

_Probably saving it all for when Zatanna and Artemis get here_, he thought as he got up, needing to get out more snacks since Megan wasn't coming.

Zatanna does bring an extra pack of beer and Wally wastes no time opening a bottle. He nearly choked on his own spit when he sees Artemis.

He's only ever seen her in her work uniform, black slacks, green apron, and white shirt. He never realized how long her hair was because it was always up in a ponytail, until now. Her flowing blonde hair (_How did she make it look so soft?_) almost reached her butt. _Her butt… Focus, Wallman! _Her attire consisted of cut off brown leather jacket and a soft white blouse, and though it was just casual cloths he secretly thought she look stunning (which might be why he almost choked).

He quickly recovered, grabbing a beer and taking a long sip. Dick seemed to take that as his cue to listing off game options for Artemis to choose from.

"Whatever you do, don't suggest poker or Monopoly," Zatanna advised as she took a sip of her beer. "You'll end up literally or figuratively broke, but either way you probably won't want to see Dick ever again."

"Why do you all think being good at poker is a bad thing?" Dick asked innocently before disappearing into the kitchen.

"Because we don't live in Vegas or in a casino," Wally called after him. He paused for a moment before adding, "Don't eat any of my Chicken Whizees, Grayson."

"I wasn't going to, though now that you suggested it," Dick's voice trailed off in his usual trolling tone. Wally was about to jump up from his spot on the couch when Artemis stopped him with a hand on his knee, causing him to immediately stiffen.

_When did she sit down on the couch? And why is her hand on my knee?_

"I think I want to beat Wally on Rainbow Road," she said, smirking at Wally with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Before Wally could protest Dick walked out of the kitchen laughing and with a bag of Chicken Whizees (Wally was going to kill him later).

"That won't be hard," he laughed. "Wally is always falling off, even Megan can easily beat him on that track."

"If you want to beat him so bad, don't let Dick or I intrude," Zatanna said with a snicker. Wally took that as his cue to escape before the presence of the blonde's hand on his knee got spotted.

Wally set up his Wii. He left the Wii U remote on the stand and grabbed two normal Wii remotes instead. He passed one, along with a wheel accessory, to Artemis as she came to sit down beside him on the floor in front of the television.

"Dude," Wally exclaimed when two chair cushions hit the back of his head. He glared back at Dick while Artemis was selecting her vehicle, wheels, and glider.

"What? I thought you would rather sit on a cushion instead of the hard wood," Dick explained with a shrug, though a smirk was plastered on his face. Wally glared at him for a moment longer as his best friend stuffed a Chicken Whizee into his mouth.

"Star cup," Artemis said, knocking her shoulder again his. The red head complied, selecting the cup as Artemis sat down on one of the cushions that Dick had thrown at Wally. Wally did the same as the first race loaded. The apartment settled into a comfortable silence, the only sound being the game and Dick chewing obnoxiously loud.

Wally tried to have good sportsmanship but that went out the window after Artemis hit him with the third red shell on the first lap. He was just thankful there was only one place he could possibly fall off, and that was only if he did something really stupid.

Wally had just passed Artemis after she knocked him back 5 places at the beginning of their second race when Zatanna's phone went off. He didn't pay much mind because her phone usually went off in the middle of game night.

"Hey guys, I gotta go," Zatanna spoke up. Artemis paused the race at the same time Wally did. "My RA just texted me that my roommate just came back to the dorm drunk and last time she threw up on my bed. Sorry, Wally." All of his friends knew how much he

"It's fine, go make sure your bed stays puke free," he said, waving it off. She gave him a swift kiss on the cheek and ruffled his hair, making him groan quietly in annoyance (he had spent half an hour getting it to the right kind of messy).

"Artemis, you have my permission to beat up these two if they do anything mean or insulting towards," Zatanna said as she gave the blonde a small hug.

"On that note: I'm leaving too," Dick said, stretching as he stood up. The redhead turned a sharp glare at him, knowing exactly what was going on now and he didn't like it. "Bruce is making me accompany him to a galley thing tomorrow so I want to make a small dent in my homework before I spend most of my Saturday and Sunday waltzing with the rich." He started walking towards the door, leaving the empty bag of Chicken Whizees on the couch. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Dude, clean up after yourself at least," Wally called after him. Dick ignored him, raising his hand in one final wave before closing the apartment door behind him. He let out a long sigh and took a big swig of his beer.

There was a long silence between the two that remained. Green eyes were staring at the pause screen, waiting for Artemis to say she was leaving too.

She didn't.

"I'm going to win this cup and then I'm going to beat you in the Flower Cup," she said, taking him by surprise, a small smile playing at her lips.

He had expected her to leave after Zatanna did and definitely after Dick did. Instead she was sticking around to hang out with him. Was she staying because she felt sorry for him or because she really wanted to stay?

Wally found himself grinning widely despite the possible reasons for her staying.

"Not going to happen, blondie," he said as he unpaused the game. Artemis bumped her shoulder against his for not warning her.

By the end of the night their beers were forgotten as they raced until they had completed all of the cups. Artemis ended up as the ultimate victor, winning to more cups than Wally. He would usually act like a sore loser would, but he was still on the happiness high because she decided to stay.

He was laying on the floor staring at his off white ceiling trying to figure out how he got so lucky to spend and evening playing Mario Kart with the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. He hadn't noticed Artemis move from her spot beside him on the floor or the time until she said something.

"It's getting pretty late, I should head home," she said as she stretched her hands above his head.

Wally didn't notice how her shirt rose up to reveal a thin strip of her stomach as she did so. At least, that was what he told himself.

He scrambled to his feet suddenly, fixing his shirt and scratching the back of his neck. He glanced at the clock on the wall. _11:43? Wasn't it just 8 an hour ago?_

"Uhh, yeah. That's probably a good idea," he murmured in agreement. He looked at her and immediately felt heat rise in his face when their eyes met and she smirked softly.

_How were grey eyes so beautiful?_

He looked away, letting silence fall between them, instead busying himself with picking up the empty beer bottles. He put the bottles in his recycling bin in the kitchen as Artemis took it upon herself to throw way Dick's trash.

The silence was uncomfortable and Wally wanted nothing more but to break it but he didn't know what to say as he held open his front door for Artemis. His eyes were fixed on his red socks as she walked passed him.

"Hey, Wally?" His head snapped up to see Artemis standing in the doorway, a light blush on her cheeks and her hands stuffed into her back jean pockets. "Thanks for letting me come, I had fun. A lot more than I would have if I stayed at my apartment by myself." She sent him a soft smile, which he returned with a goofy grin.

"I had fun too." He scratched the back of his neck again as he tried to find the words for what he wanted to say. "Game night is the last Friday of every month if you ever want to come again." He paused to take a breath. "If you ever want a rematch at Mario Kart just let me know."

Artemis's lips split into a wide smile, her eyes sparkling like she wanted the rematch already.

"I'll definitely hold you to that, Wallman," she said, he smiled at her use of his self-given nickname.

"Goodnight, Wally."

"Goodnight, Artemis."

She gave him one last smile before disappearing down the hall.

(They had that rematch less than a week later.)


End file.
